Seiko NPC Corporation has started full production of its recently developed SM8170BD power supply IC. This new product is ideally suited for optical disk drives (ODD) and hard disk drives (HDD).

In recent years, there has been a growing need for the I/O and core sections of large-scale ICs to have power supplies at separate voltages. This trend will continue as advances in microfabrication technology push core section voltages lower while the increasing scale of ICs will require larger currents.

NPC's response is the SM8170BD, a power supply IC consisting of a DC/DC converter, a series regulator, and a reset circuit.
The DC/DC converter is a synchronous rectifying step-down DC/DC converter that uses PWM (pulse width modulation). Accordingly, it provides high-efficiency conversion even when outputs as low as 1.5V are obtained from a 5V input. The converter is also capable of supplying currents of up to 800mA. The output voltage supports ICs with different core voltage values because it can be set with external resistors.
The series regulator provides a high ripple rejection ratio of 70dB at 1kHz, and is capable of supplying currents of up to 400mA. The output voltage is fixed at 3.3V.
The reset circuit, which has a built-in off-delay circuit (65ms), monitors the input's power voltage and produces an open-drain output. The detection voltage is fixed at 3.7V (as measured at the falling edge).

The SM8170BD houses all of these functions in a SON-10 package measuring only 3.0mm by 2.5mm by 0.7mm. Since this small package requires less space for installation, the new product is an excellent choice for small drives intended for notebook PCs.

The SM1870BD is one more product in NPC's effort to provide a series of products that take full advantage of element technologies.

Name	Sample shipment date	Price with and without tax	Volume production date	Planned production
SM8170BD	Novembert 2006	136 yen/unit (142 yen/unit)	December 2006	1.5 million units/month